Pull My Cracker!
by shadow243ali
Summary: With a flourish – because Time Lords always did things with a flourish – he revealed his Christmas cracker and with a grin he asked, “Pull my cracker.”


**AN: Ah, I'm so much more pleased with this Christmas oneshot than I was with the last one. This one feels more like a DW Christmas to me! Well, enjoy!**

**-----**

As the Doctor stood in the TARDIS, Christmastime coating the air, he wondered how he would give Rose her present. Although time did not technically exist in the TARDIS, Rose had the human instinct to keep a calendar, marking off each day with a cross.

He was so accustomed to living in suspended isolation; his TARDIS acting as bubble, distancing him from the outside world of time and space that he often forgot that there was such thing as a passing of time as opposed to hopping over the boundaries of days, weeks, months, years, centuries as he was so used to.

Yet now, according to Rose's calendar at least, it was Christmastime and that demanded celebration. Rose had even decorated the TARDIS, giving a festive feel of handmade paper snowflakes, tinsel and so much glitter the Doctor was surprised he wasn't breathing the stuff.

And presents – ah, the mystery of his present; so far he had to give it to Rose, she was good. She was sneaky. She was...surprisingly good at hiding his present from him. He had even snuck into her room in a vain attempt to find it, but it evaded him.

Maybe the TARDIS was helping Rose hide it.

He looked towards the glowing time rotor...no, she would never betray him, not even to Rose.

He still had to give Rose his present anyway. He had stopped off at a vendor on the planet Balthaise, slipped away from Rose's curious and questioning look with the excuse of needing a part for the TARDIS. He had found the perfect gift. And now all he had to do was give it to her.

It was almost Christmas Day by Rose's clock and calendar's standards, when he finally had imagined an original way to give Rose her gift. She was seated on the Captain's chair, and he had plopped down beside her, giving her a sideways look; a suspicious grin on his face.

He placed his hand in front of her, index finger poised, "Rose." He began, sounding as excited as a child, "Pull my finger."

With a small quirk of a solitary eyebrow, Rose glanced between his face and his finger before she promptly replied, "No."

That faltered him, momentarily. "Please pull my finger?"

She shook her head. "No, Doctor."

His face contorted in a pout, "Aww..." He protested, "Come on Rose. Why not?"

She smiled a side smile, "I do have cousins."

He was confused by her tone; by the way she said it as if that was answer enough. What exactly did having cousins have anything to do with her pulling his finger?

"And...?"

This was really not going as he intended. She was meant to pull his finger and he would bring out his other hand and with a flourish he would reveal his present. Why wasn't she co-operating?

"I know what the ending to pull my finger is and it never smells good." Rose said.

"But..." Realisation conked him on the head. _Oh! _"Oh..." He let out a sigh, turning his head away, slumping in his seat, "Never mind.

He would have to find some other way to reveal his gift.

It was Christmas morning – 8am to be precise – when his next ingenious idea came to him. Rose had just ventured out from her bed. Her blonde hair was messy, sticking up in directions he could only be jealous of as he thought of his own messy head.

"Rose..." He began as she bit into a piece of buttered toast.

She smiled. "Yes?"

With a flourish – because Time Lords always did things with a flourish – he revealed his Christmas cracker and with a grin he asked, "Pull my cracker."

Eloquently, she replied with, "Uh..." and matched it with her patented confused face.

He threw her his puppy dog look; she always took pity on him if he threw her _that _look, "_Please_ pull my cracker." He asked, but never begged because time Lords never begged.

Warily, she asked, "Do I have to?"

He threw out his lower lip and emphasised, "Please."

With a sigh, she relented. "Fine!" she breathed out, as she took her free hand and pulled the cracker.

It opened with more of a _pop! _rather than a _crack! _much to the Doctor's disappointment, bet amongst the noise, a small box came to a clattering drop as it landed on the kitchen table amongst toast crumbs.

"Merry Christmas!" The Doctor cheered, as she stared at him, a warm smile gracing her features.

Rose picked up the box delicately, holding it in the palm of her hand. A single finger traced the edge and she gently opened it. A gasp caught in her throat. "Oh! It's beautiful." Within the velvet box, hanging from a thin silver chain was a beautiful blue stone. It seems to shimmer under her touch and she was suddenly reminded of the ocean's depths as she gazed into it.

Looking up into the Doctor's eyes, she sincerely said, "Thank you Doctor." Before she reached across the table and kissed him on the cheek, giving him a friendly hug as she did so.

They were silent for another few moments as Rose took her place back on the kitchen chair.

"So..." The Doctor began.

She raised an eyebrow, smirking, "So?"

"Where's my present?"

He looked like he was on the verge of jumping out of his seat. In that moment, he looked more like an excited child than she had ever seen him.

"Under the Christmas tree." Rose tentatively replied.

The Doctor frowned, "What Christmas tree?" He looked confused.

"The one under my mum's tree."

The excitement quickly dissipated as the Doctor stared at her, shocked. Looking back, she almost felt bad. Almost, but she had promised her mum that she would be home for Christmas Day and even after last year's regenerating Christmas and the proceeding events after saving the day that the Doctor had officially named 'The-Christmas-That-Will-Not-Be-Named-EVER-Rose-I-Mean-It!' she had to coax the Doctor into returning to her home for Christmas. It was the only way.

When he finally spoke, it consisted of "Do we have to go there?"

She nodded. "Yes." She then added, "Don't worry. I bought Mum a present from you. Just don't act surprised when she opens it."

With a continuous nodding of his head, the Doctor drifted away and imagined a Christmas where Jackie Tyler didn't haunt it like the ghost of horrors yet to come.

The End

**AN: Well, you know the drill. Review if you want to. Oh, and Merry Christmas! :D**


End file.
